Dry Hopping Options in a Borderline Imperial Stout

[jameswatsonuk]

Hi folks, new to the HBT but used it for casual reference over the years in my adventures..so hi

Ok so I’ve brewed a couple of batches to use up some old malt and hops that’ve been hanging around a little longer than they should (leftover ingredients bought during lockdown of 2020, so yeah, a bit old!)

Age doesn’t appear to have been a problem tho….I don’t get to brew often (kids innit) so tend to go for bigger, 40-45l batches every 10 months of so.

This time I’ve done 2 back-to-back batches to use stuff up: A 40l batch of average (5%) US Pale and a 23l (roughly) of strong (and 10%) stout.

I fermented the pale in 2 separate buckets, pitching a sachet of Wilko yeast on each. I’ll be kegging that soon.

Now, for the stout I did a no-chill to a cube once boil was done. Once at around 20c I poured it straight onto the yeast cake (and trubb of course ) of one of the racked buckets from the previous batch -not done this before, but figured “why not”. It seems to be a good thing to “train” yeast up before hitting it with a higher gravity batch

The recipe for the “borderline” imperial stout is:

Fermentables:
9kg Maris Otter
200g Black malt
200g Roasted barley
500g Chocolate malt
500g Brown Sugar

Hops:
20g Simcoe (60m)
25g East Kent Goldings (10m)

OG was 1.089
FG is now at 1.013 after 10 days - I think it’s done. Fermentation was pretty volatile at peak!

I call it a “borderline” IS as the FG is on the low side and it could probably be a little darker, I guess. I mashed overnight (reason:kids/time) starting at 65c on my well insulated cooler mash tun, so I think the lower temp has dried/lowered the body a little further than I’d have liked….but more ABV at 9.8%, so not all bad.

Now. I’m planning to rack and age this stout for a few months before bottling and aging for a few more months. Initial samples have a strong alcohol hum (expected), promising coffee/mocha notes, but lacking a really discernible hop profile - given the limited freezer scraps I was using in the boil!

I’m thinking of adding a dry-hopping stage before racking off again to age.

I haven’t dry hopped a stout before, having previously only done so with IPAs or Pales, and usually playing safe with the usual US go-tos of Cascade, Centenial and the like. But I think this would be a good candidate for an experiment.

I’m thinking there’s a raisiny/dark fruit/spicy, berry note missing in there that is like to bring out somehow. I was thinking of maybe some more EKG, mixed with something else…dunno what really tho….or the quantities involved

How about some suggestions cheers. Any questions, just ask

 

[asthenia548]

I’m a big fan in EKG dry hops. 2 oz in 5 gals gives an herbal, tea-like aroma that I really enjoy. I think it would work well for your stout.

 

[jameswatsonuk]

I was leaning toward EKG, never lets me down. Being a UK brewer, seeing hop addition In oz always throws me out! So by my reckoning 2oz/around 60g EKG for 2 weeks. Have some Bramley Cross too..maybe through in an oz of that too?

 

[jameswatsonuk]

THROW in (sorry, had a coupla Hobgoblins )